Chevy Chase considers banning noisy activities at certain hours

Construction, landscaping would be primarily affected

Instead of fussing over decibel levels, Town of Chevy Chase residents seeking more peace and quiet may soon see some landscaping and construction activities banned altogether at certain times.

A public hearing will be held Jan. 13 at the council's next meeting on a proposed noise control ordinance that is meant to resolve months of debate about the issue. Fines of up to $400 would also be levied on offending parties, although Councilman David Lublin, who introduced the proposed ordinance, said the goal is to educate homeowners and landscaping and construction companies, not to punish them by collecting the fines.

"It's kind of like a bright line rule," Lublin said. "We'll wait and hear what people in the town have to say."

In its current form, the ordinance would ban construction activities between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. on weekdays, and between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. on weekends and federal holidays. These activities include idling engines, loading or unloading equipment and materials and operating equipment with audible devices that warn when a vehicle is backing up. Operating outdoor power equipment like lawn mowers and leaf blowers would be banned between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. on weekdays, and between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. on weekends and all federal holidays.

The first violation of this ordinance would trigger a $200 fine, a second violation a $275 fine and a third violation a $400 fine. If an employee of a landscaping or construction company violated the ordinance on private property, the individual, the company and the property owner would all be violating the ordinance and subject to a fine.

The issue has been under discussion for some time, Lublin said, because the county appears to be doing little to enforce its own ordinance, which sets maximum decibel levels for both landscaping and construction noise. The highest allowable level under county law is 65 decibels for non-construction activities from 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays, and 85 decibels for construction with an approved noise suppression plan from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

With a "bright line rule," Lublin said, quarrels between neighbors over what kind of activities are appropriate at what time can be eliminated.

During a discussion at the Dec. 9 council meeting, however, Councilman Al Lang said he knew of few actual e-mail complaints about the subject, and wondered about "unintended consequences," such as banning people from cutting their lawns late on summer nights, leading them to hire lawn services that would create more noise than a single resident-operated mower.

"I think it's more complicated than I ever possibly could have thought," Lang said.

Lang also wondered if the law could include enforcement methods that would discriminate between residents and contractors. But the town's attorney, David Podolsky, seemed to shoot down this idea, citing the perspective of a resident complaining about noise.

"Does it really matter who's pushing the mower on your property in terms of its impact on me?" Podolsky asked.